Hostages to die tomorrow, say Iraqi militants

Iraqi militants threatening to kill three Romanian journalists and a US hostage issued a new video today, extending the deadline until tomorrow for Romania to withdraw its troops, Al-Jazeera television said.

The militants said in the video they would begin killing the hostages at 6pm local time (3pm BST) tomorrow unless their demands were met, the network reported.

Two of the hostages, Romanian Sorin Miscoci and Iraqi American Mohammed Monaf, were seen in the video wearing orange jumpsuits – which kidnappers in the past have put on their hostages when they kill them.

The video showed the Romanian journalists – two men and a woman – sitting in handcuffs with pistols pointing toward their heads.

It then showed Monaf, their translator, sitting alone, also with a pistol to his head.

Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion can be seen talking to the camera, though Al-Jazeera did not air the audio.

In a video on Friday, the militants – calling themselves the “Muadh bin Jabal Brigades” – said they would kill the four unless Romania’s 800 troops in Iraq were pulled out by today.

The three, along with reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian from Romania Libera newspaper, were kidnapped in Baghdad on March 28.